published_or_final_version / Applied Statistics / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Bibliography: leaves 467-472 / xi, 472 leaves : ill., geneal. tables, maps ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, 1986

Papua New Guinea has been classified by the World Health Organisation as an area where clinical vitamin A deficiency (VAD) exists. This is at variance with the experience of the local physicians who do not encounter classical VAD in clinical practice. This pilot study was carried out to resolve this contradiction, since many suggestions have been made to fortify foods with Vitamin A. If done in the absence of concrete data to back up this classification, it could take the focus away from the real problem as well as potentially create problems of Vitamin A toxicity. Therefore, answers from this study could have far reaching implications in a country such as PNG, which has high childhood mortality and limited financial and manpower resources. The objective of this study was to determine the vitamin A status and identify risk factors of VAD in children aged 6 months to 6 years in a rural area of Papua New Guinea. The survey was carried out in the Ramu region of Madang province. Households and children were randomly selected and standard questionnaires were used to collect information about diet, previous illnesses and night blindness. The weight and height of all children was recorded and an ocular and physical examination carried out by trained personnel. In addition, haemoglobin estimation and examination of blood films for malaria parasites was carried out in all the children. In a randomly selected number of children, estimations of serum retinol and other micronutrient levels were carried out. Results: A total of 609 children were enrolled in the study. Biochemical parameters were studied in 106 of them .The mean age of the children was 35 months. Possible night blindness was reported in 4 children. No xerophthalmia was seen. The prevalence of serum retinol levels ( 0.7 (mol/L (WHO suggested cut off values for subclinical VAD) was 10.3%. Anthropometric indicators indicated a high proportion of the children had stunting and wasting or both. Analysis of dietary patterns, maternal literacy, food availability and other surrogate indicators indicated that the population is at mild-moderate risk of developing VAD. In conclusion, no evidence of clinical vitamin A deficiency was found. Subclinical vitamin A deficiency seemed to occur in this population at a level of mild-moderate public health importance. Further studies need to be carried out to assess the situation in different areas in PNG before policy decisions can be made with regards to mass vitamin A supplementation.

No description available.

Thesis (PhD) -- Macquarie University, School of History, Philosophy, and Politics, Centre for Conflict Resolution, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references and appendices. / This thesis presents the findings of a participatory action research project conducted in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. -- The advantages and disadvantages of participatory action research in Conflict Resolution are discussed, with special reference to their common basis in a contemporary philosophy of cognition and learning. The practical and ethical issues of cross-cultural training in Conflict Resolution are reviewed. The research process is described and particular research methods evaluated. Comparison with the methods and findings of earlier research is also presented. The issues are illustrated by means of case studies drawn from a period of field work (March 1992-April 1993, December 1993-February 1994, and August 1994). -- The research involved the analysis and evaluation of both traditional and modern means of conflict resolution used by Enga people or by other agencies within Enga Province during the period of research. The outcome of resolved conflict is gutpela sindaun ("good sitting") a Tok Pisin (Melanesian Pidgin) phrase that translates the Enga phrases auu pyoo katenge and auu pyoo petenge ("being or staying well," conceived from a masculine "standing" [katenge] or feminine "sitting" [petenge] perspective). These phrases are frequently used to describe peaceful intergroup relations. In considering how this state might be brought about, special attention is paid to the preferred methods of the people themselves (cross-cutting alliances, exchange relationships, and violent self-help), government (the Village Court System, economic development, and punitive measures), and churches and religious movements (conversion, forgiveness, and reconciliation). -- The special role of new religious movements as social movements for peace is highlighted. A comprehensive policy proposal is presented for further discussion by interested parties. -- This information, its interpretation, application, and implementation are presently part of an ongoing participatory action research process sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Wabag (Enga Province). This thesis therefore forms a summary of the data as of December 1994, which must in turn be evaluated by those whose practice it is intended to inform. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xxii, [3], 413 leaves ill. (some col.)

This is an account of the two administration health services, and of those provided by the missions, through three succeeding regimes in British New Guinea/Papua and four successive regimes in German New Guinea/Territory of New Guinea. It also traces the evolution of Australian health administration in relation to the health services of Papua and New Guinea. Because the missions - although subsidised by the Administrations - developed medical services of their own before and quite separate from the administration services they are considered separately. Development of the health services was affected by the considerable constraints of insufficient finance, unfamiliar terrain, unfamiliar peoples and unfamiliar diseases. It was also affected by the emergencies of recurring epidemics of introduced diseases, by the interruption of the First World War and by the crisis of the Great Depression years. While in spite of the war years development was more or less continuous in Papua, New Guinea suffered almost complete disruption of health services for seven years, except to military personnel, during the years of occupation by Australian troops between 1914 and 1921. Nonetheless before the 1930s both the Papua and New Guinea health services were stable and expanding. Increasingly they were able to retain medical staff and to send officers to Australia for postgraduate training in tropical medicine and hygiene: also to undertake increasing medical training and dispersal of both European Medical Assistants and indigenous personnel on patrols and into village societies. The importance of adequate nutrition became a central issue, and continuing campaigns were conducted against hookworm, yaws, gonorrhoea and leprosy. The period of eighteen years between the establishment of Australia's Commonwealth Department of Health in 1921 and 1939 included an exploration of Australia's potential role in relation to health matters in Papua and New Guinea and more widely in the Pacific Region. The first, and a significant, contribution was that made by the Commonwealth Health Laboratory in Rabaul. As possibilities were explored and tried, or discarded, it became clear that the best means for Australia to assist in the health problems of the two Territories was by providing appropriate training for medical and other health personnel and for missionaries, and by conducting field surveys and research to help elucidate the epidemiology and pathology of diseases and questions of entomology. Other appropriate action was the initiation and conducting of international conferences on health matters of common concern, and the undertaking of the receipt and distribution of epidemiological intelligence for the Austral-Pacific Zone, of which New Guinea was a part. The period of the study ends in 1939, when the inevitability of war, and the likely inclusion of New Guinea in the conflict, became apparent.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves xviii-xix). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves xviii-xix). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis--University of Pennsylvania. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves xii-xiii) and index.

Thesis (Th. D.)--Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-226).